Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli made the remark in a meeting with visiting United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Sunday.
The Iranian minister said minor international aid cannot cover the whole expenses of refugees currently hosted by Iran.
According to him, Iran is home to around three million legal and illegal Afghan refugees. Each year, the country identifies 7,000 illegal Afghan refugees and returns them to their own homeland, Rahmani-Fazli added.
It is only reasonable that other countries, including European ones, take up hosting these refugees for a few years, he said.
Rahmani-Fazli further called for the holding of a joint meeting and serious decision-making on the situation of refugees by UN officials and European authorities.
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